


Bluebells

by doorwaycat



Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: F/M, I Don't Even Know, Multi, Other, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:56:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29618136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doorwaycat/pseuds/doorwaycat
Summary: Yua is a grumpy mother hen with a nest of demons. That's it. That's the idea.Rated explicit for potential future chapters.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Bluebells

**PROLOGUE**

Every step Yua took made the floorboards whine and moan in protest. No matter how softly she danced across the hall, it seemed like the whole house was intent on betraying her. Even if she could’ve reined in the excitement and anxiety that was running wild along her entire body, she couldn’t be perfectly silent in this old and well worn house. She knew that getting the others to do the same would also be nearly impossible once she told them what she had planned.

Yua took a deep breath and slowly pushed open the door to her little sister’s room. The curtains were softly fluttering, perfectly highlighted in the light of the moon shining through her open window. She could just barely see her sister, arms and legs sprawled out over the bed and her blanket tossed aside on the floor. How she managed to be this peaceful with the biting air flowing into the room was a mystery, but for once Yua wasn't here to remind her that she could get sick; instead, she whispered,

“Jenny?”

The lump on the bed wasn’t stirring at all, so she sighed and tried again.

“Jenny, wake up, I have something to show you.”

Jenny groaned a bit, then yawned. She scrunched her eyes together and drowsily glanced at Yua, then sat up and tried to talk, but Yua cut her off.

“You have to be quiet. Just grab your coat and shoes and trust me. You’re going to love this, I promise.”

* * *

Wind whipped away at her hair and she could swear it was frigid enough to form frost on her skin, but all the same she hadn’t felt this much energy since she was a little kid. The smile on Jenny’s face next to her was bright enough to match the stars, and was enthusiastically nodding along to her brothers who were only a pace behind and chattering away. Even Adam had readily agreed to come, giving the excuse that bad concerts were better than none and he needed new inspiration for his next composition. Yua couldn’t care less what excuses he gave, so long as he was here with the rest of them. The lampposts threw an orangish cast over their faces as they rushed down the empty streets, and the sky above was as deeply and brilliantly splendid as she had ever seen it. She was interrupted in reveling in her surroundings by Thomas, who seemed to be thinking at a million miles an hour.

“Yua, how the hell did you manage five tickets?? I thought it was sold out the second this place was booked for the gig.”

Thomas didn’t seem to register the cold at all, only bothering to put on his jacket when Yua had scolded him earlier. Instead, both he and Isaac were threatening to vibrate out of their skins and Isaac especially looked ready to burst. Yua knew that Isaac had been fanboying hard for this particular band for the past two years, and so wasn’t very surprised at what he said next.

“Dude. FORGET about that. Seriously. I can’t believe they’d even come here, I mean, we’re out in the sticks and they pick here to kick off the tour? Punch me man, I’m dreaming.”

“Sure bro, you asked for it.” Thomas grinned and socked Isaac in the shoulder. Isaac stumbled a bit before leaning straight back into Thomas and nearly knocking him over, both cackling as they tried to get back at one another.

Yua mentally checked herself before she automatically told them to quit it; she didn’t need to be the downer here. They were nearly at the doors, and as long as they didn’t start a fight or run somebody else over with their antics, it was fine. At least that’s what she told herself. Somewhere in the back of her head she still saw herself wringing her hands, but tonight, just for tonight, she would shut that part of herself up and let the others have the fun they had been deprived of for over a year.

“Yua, I think that’s the end of the line…?” Jenny poked her arm, and Yua realized that she almost walked them straight past it, head completely in the clouds. She apologized briefly, then herded them all into the line. Soon enough they made it to the doors.

Once the opener started, she watched as Thomas and Isaac immediately disappeared into the crowd, two shocks of bright platinum blonde hair bobbing in and around the sea of people. She smiled a bit to herself and hoped to god they remembered to meet her at the doors at the end of the concert. Jenny was yelling something her way with a delirious smile on her face, trying to drag her into the crowd and pointing at the stage. And Adam… for a split second she couldn’t find him and panicked, but there he was. He had made it all the way to the edge of the stage itself. She caught just a glimpse of his face, and saw that his permanent scowl was gone. He stood wide eyed and smiling like a fool, the blue and purple spotlights glancing off his shining eyes.

It was worth the months she spent losing her sanity at that dumb ice cream counter. Their faces made all of it, every last second she thought she was going to stab someone with an waffle cone, every moment she came home too tired to take off her shoes, every day she had to sneak her classwork in during her breaks, every single bit of it one hundred percent worth it. She let herself just sink into the feeling that she had made this happen for them, that the way the beat bounced and vibrated into her feet making her want to dance with everything she had- that was deserved.

It didn’t matter that tomorrow her mother might throw a fit at them for leaving, it didn’t matter that tomorrow she would wake up in a house where the roof threatened to fall in on them, it didn’t matter that tomorrow she probably wouldn’t have lunch to bring with her, not a single bit of that meant anything at all; it was just the music, her family, and her.

And so she danced like she would never get a chance again.

* * *

_Several Years Later_

Her flat in London still didn’t feel right. She supposed it wouldn’t ever feel right if she didn’t try, but still. The walls were gray, the carpet was an ugly beige, the bed had a single white blanket, and try as she might it didn’t feel like home. Instead it always made something very small and hidden in the furthest corners of her mind want to tear her hair out and run straight back to the woods in Washington.

She had made her brothers promise to text the day before she left, but maybe it wasn’t the best to slip that in between telling them to be home at 9 without reminders and to keep their father’s liquor cabinet alone. They hadn’t sent even a hello. She still couldn’t help but think about whether or not they might have gotten into the cabinet… And Jenny. Sweet, stubborn little Jenny. She wished she wouldn’t have shouted at her that day. Adam had judged from his seat at the kitchen table, never changing his cold impassivity that bored into her as the door clicked shut on her time at the beaten-down house. Yua couldn’t stop thinking about that expression on his face.

This aid request was going horribly. She sighed, head in her hands and stared at the blank space under the prompt, mocking her pitiful plea for help. Getting here had been hard enough; but now that she was here, really here, in a city of nine million, she felt ridiculously and utterly alone. What she wouldn’t give to have her old classmates back. Sure, her study group wasn’t all that bad, but she could feel the judgement. The American, here on pity money. It irritated her more than she liked to admit, and she had to stop herself from frowning so deep it hurt.

Money. She needed to send home several thousand more by the end of the month. At least she was free to make it however she saw fit. Her stepmother would have fits if she knew where she worked nights, but it paid for the clothes on her siblings’ backs. And the moldering roof that needed new shingles. And the front door that refused to stay on its hinges.

If I keep making this much in tips every night, the air conditioning could be replaced by the time the frosts hit. And the aid request, if that goes through I’ll have enough to get insurance again this semester….

What a Hell she had worked herself into. She wished the ground would swallow up this stupid flat with her in it.

* * *

Her desk rapidly shot up and away from her, as did her chair. The carpet hissed and seemed to crackle and burn around her heels.

The ground had apparently heard her wish.

She had felt this sensation a thousand times before, like letting silks drop her from the ceiling or the free-falling-stomach-in-your-throat feeling from a carnival drop tower. But there was always a slow, gentle moment, being caught by the safety and control of a mechanism and carefully planned physics before the ground made forceful contact with your bones. That moment didn’t look like it was coming.

Instead the ground came flying towards her knees and sent a shooting pain through the rest of her body, spurring a groan from the back of her throat.

Her head took it’s sweet time to adjust to the sudden shock, barely registering the stinging in her palms. She stared down at an intricate purple tile, trying to get the pattern to stop moving, but it absolutely refused.

“Solomon, how uncharacteristically ungraceful. I’d appreciate it if you didn’t break your fellow exchange student so soon.”

A man’s voice. Deep, but warm.

“It couldn’t be helped, unfortunately. I have classes to prepare for too. A proper summoning circle is a waste of time.” This one laughed softly.... Was he named Solomon? Why was that so familiar? And summoning circles? “Speaking of which, please excuse me.” Shoes clacked across the tile, getting fainter and fainter.

“Hm. In any case.”  
“Welcome to the Devildom, Yua.”

* * *

The words didn’t quite click in her mind, her eyes still anchored to the pattern on the floor. She caught the tail end of his sentence, and mumbled in protest. He spoke again,

“...Oh, pardon me. Feeling a bit shocked, are we?”  
“Well that’s understandable. You’ve only just arrived, after all. As a human, it will probably take a little while for you to adjust to things here in the Devildom.”

She blinked a bit as she tried to assess whether or not her bones had shattered, and said, “Is this… Am I dreaming?”

“Hmm… What a very human thing to say. Outstanding. I have a feeling you might be just the sort of person we’re looking for.”

She finally lifted her head, and was met with an icy stare, framed by neat black hair, looking down at her from only a few feet away. Her eyes widened a bit.. He was so.. Strangely pretty? But he wasn’t the one talking.

“I suppose I should start by introducing myself. My name is Diavolo. I am the ruler of all demons, and all here know of me.” The voice came from much farther away, and higher, belonging to a man in an ornate red uniform, sat in what looked like a judge’s stand, “And someday soon, I will be crowned king of the Devildom. This is the Royal Academy of Diavolo, though we just call it RAD. You’re standing inside the assembly hall, the very heart of RAD. This is where we officers of the student council hold our meetings and conduct our business. I’m the president of said counsel.”

Damn it. She just had to dream about yet another exchange school. How perfectly, utterly annoying. And a monarchy? She didn’t realize Britain had affected her that much. As he continued to talk, she took the opportunity to rise unsteadily to her feet and attempt to dust off her sweater dress.

“Ha. Ha. Hilarious, really. When do I get to wake up?”

The man closest to her smirked a bit. “Really, you still believe you’re asleep? This place is the farthest from a dream you will ever find, I assure you. I will explain everything to you.”

Diavolo gestured to him, saying, “Yua, this is Lucifer. He is a demon, and the Avatar of Pride. He’s also the vice-president of the student council and my right-hand man… and not just in title, I assure you. Beyond that, he’s also my most trusted friend.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Diavolo.” This seemed to irritate Lucifer, but he moved on. “Speaking on behalf of the entire student body at this great and storied school of ours… I offer you a most heartfelt welcome, Yua.”

“Hm. I wouldn’t exactly describe being dropped several dozen feet onto hard tile as a heartfelt welcome, but I guess I do have strange tastes in my dreams.” Her comment seemed to make Lucifer pause and regard her for just a moment, but he quickly regained his ground and scoffed lightly before continuing.

“...Interesting. This one is quite different from Solomon.”  
“Diavolo believes that we demons should start strengthening our relationship with both the human world and the Celestial Realm. As a first step toward this goal, we’ve decided to institute an exchange program. We’ve sent two of our students to the human world and two…”

* * *

They seemed to talk for ages before suddenly the black haired man was handing her a smart phone of all things, and he introduced her to more strangely pretty men, saying that they were his brothers. Family resemblance wasn’t exactly there between him and the preening brother he called Asmodeus, and it was absent completely between him and the monstrous ginger that was scarfing down a sandwich beside him. He was still talking, and Yua caught on to a single name.. Did he just say Satan?

She barely had time to notice this before she was whisked away by one of them named Mammon; with her head still spinning she was swept away through streets standing before a magnificent gothic mansion silhouetted by a dark but somehow blazing sky.

The man beside her hadn’t stopped complaining the entire way there. Something about stupid humans, and better things to do with his time. And how he wasn’t scared of Lucifer? She tried tuning him out so that she could look at the streets around her, but it wasn’t working. Lucifer had said something about him being a masochist though, so maybe she could get him to shut up by mentioning it. At the very least, what harm could it do? He might get angry and end the dream early, or he might actually stop talking.

And funny enough, it worked.

When at last she was left to herself and night (or what she thought was night; it looked nearly the same to her) had come, Yua sat on a luxurious bed and just marveled at the bedroom she was in. A tree burst through the floorboards near the bed, covered in tiny glimmering lanterns, and just behind her vines scaled the walls and crawled across the ceiling, covering the room in greenery. What a stark contrast to the grey of her surroundings in London. She wished that all her dreams could be this strange.

_Wouldn’t it be nice to have a few more plants in the flat? Maybe I’ll go get some tomorrow morning..._

She also wished she could just stay in this dream, just a little longer, before inevitably she would wake up back in her own personal little Hell, but it was getting harder and harder to keep her eyes open… The lanterns still twinkling away happily, she let herself drift off on the softness of the light and pillows around her.

* * *

Lucifer sighed. The newest exchange student had proved to be more troublesome than expected. She continually wandered off to look at things in the house, ditching whatever chaperone was with her. He thought for a moment about asking Diavolo for a replacement, but couldn’t bring himself to admit that a mere human was this problematic to him already. At least for now she had agreed to go to sleep, and with any luck she wouldn’t be a problem for the rest of the night.

He rubbed his temples with one hand as he opened the door to the common room. To his surprise, several of his brothers were already in the room.

“...human was the worst. I mean, who just does that?!? I can’t believe that Lucifer is making me watch that stuck-up little…”

“Mammon, is there something you would like to say to my face?”

Mammon jumped at the sound of Lucifer’s voice and struggled to turn his words around.

“I mean, uh… it’s a great opportunity to uh…”

“Really Mammon, could you be a bigger idiot?” Satan heaved a sigh before continuing, “But it doesn’t matter. She still doesn’t believe any of this is real, you know.”

“Doesn’t mean the human’s not annoyin’ though. I mean, if they act like this in their dreams—” Mammon was cut short.

“Mammon, you’d do best to refrain from complaining about the exchange student. Diavolo has ordered it, and so it will be this way.”

“But tell me, Lucifer,” Asmodeus had piped up from his spot lounging on the sofa, “Why not just have the human stay in Purgatory Hall with the angels and Solomon? It would be so much easier.”

“You know as well as I do that Solomon can’t be trusted. Besides that however, she is only an ordinary human. Solomon will be perfectly fine without our help… But I imagine this one will not be.”

“Hmmm….” Asmodeus seemed to consider it briefly, then exhaled a breathy sigh. “Good luck then, Mammon. Sounds like it will be so much fun.” He simpered at Mammon and went back to scrolling through pictures and looking bored.

Mammon sneered and looked as though he was about to say something nasty, but thought better of it. Lucifer was too tired for this. Satan was now pointedly ignoring all of them, with his face an inch away from the pages of “A Gentledaemon’s Guide to Sampling Souls: The Human Delicacy”. The message was not lost on Lucifer.

This was going to be an interesting ordeal.


End file.
